


Through The Barricades

by oratorio



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Inexperienced Hux, this is not Kylux or Reylo, using sex to get at Kylo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-03-04 21:00:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13372980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oratorio/pseuds/oratorio
Summary: Rey hoped that she could turn Kylo Ren to the Light, but she was wrong. Now she sits in a cell, captive of the First Order, frustrated and furious.Turns out, she isn't the only one angry with Kylo. She hatches a plan to get under his skin, and after some persuasion General Hux agrees to go along with it.It turns out to be somewhat more than he can handle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElizaDarling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizaDarling/gifts).



> My first ever fic in this particular fandom! I couldn't help but ship this after reading the work of ElizaDarling on this site. I can't hope to match her skill in storytelling, but I also couldn't help but dip my toe into the Reyux pool. At the moment this is a standalone fic, but I may yet write further chapters.

Fury had turned to hope, then back to fury again.

Rey wasn’t sure who she was most angry with. There was Luke Skywalker, with his obstinate refusal to help the Resistance. Or Kylo Ren – Ben – for his soft, low voice, his persuasive tongue, his apparent wavering commitment to his course. She could be the vessel that guides him to calmer shores, she had thought.

She had been wrong, which was why, right now, sitting in a cold iron cell, her anger at her own naivete blazed with the whitest heat of all.

“Stupid. _Stupid_.”

No wonder Skywalker had turned her away. So much for being the bright hope of the Resistance, when she had basically walked into the lion’s den unarmed and invited it to eat her.

Ren was gloating, too. Like he’d won a game, which, she supposed, he had. If only because she’d effectively conceded. Far from the glimmer of sympathetic hope he’d shown her when their fingers touched across the galaxies, the man was unbearable. And he wouldn’t leave her alone. She hated him.

He desired her, of course. Not just for the power she could lend to his, or for the fatal blow it could deal the Resistance. He couldn’t hide his blatant admiration of her talents, nor did she miss the way his eyes skated over her body each time he visited her, lingering on the soft curve of her breast, the tightness of her thigh. It seemed he couldn’t allow a day to pass when he did not drink her in, although she must surely be seared in his memory by now.

For every burning gaze, for each crude thought he entertained, she hated him more. She would curse and spit, and turn her back on him, and all he would do is laugh in that heavy, languorous timbre. Her rage grew, an impotent fireball. _Until…_

Rey remembers with fine clarity the morning when she first noticed the weakness in their ranks. When she realised that she wasn’t alone in her hatred. Ren was oddly distracted, jittery, his barriers slipping. She’d reached out and seen red hair, heard raised voices, felt a wash of frustration and irritation.

This was interesting. This was something she could use.

When a droid delivered her food that evening, she crouched down at its level and attempted to speak with it.

“I need to speak with your General. It’s urgent,” she told it. “Please send him a message. Tell him it’s about Skywalker.”

The droid hummed and blipped. “Need to tell Master Ren.”

“I’m not going to tell Master Ren a word,” she said, her voice firm. “If you bring him, there will be no information. I will only talk to your General.”

The droid made a thin reedy noise, and trundled away.

Rey had no idea if her plan would work. Even if she persuaded the General to visit her, there was no guarantee that he would listen to her and even less chance that he would be on board with what she was proposing. But she was frustrated and bored, and she had had enough of the crawling gaze of Ren. This might not get her off the Finalizer, but at the very least she would have the satisfaction of getting one over on her main captor.

After three days, she was on the verge of giving up. Each time the little droid arrived with her porridge and water, she would repeat her request to speak with General Hux. Each time, it would acknowledge her request with a cheery hum, and each time she spent the following hours in silence, staring at the blank, grey walls.

On the fourth day, she was dozing lightly, the thin blanket she had been provided wrapped tightly around her body as she curled up on the wooden cot. Half-dreaming, she heard her name being called, and it took her some minutes to realise that there was someone standing at the bars of her cell.

General Hux looked exactly as she had expected. Lean, angular, rigid. Not a hair out of place; his uniform starched and neat, shoes shined, his bright red hair carefully parted and styled so severely that it looked almost plastic. He fixed her with a cold stare, his pale green eyes watery and intense.

“What do you have to tell me, scavenger?”

Rey rubbed her eyes and rose from her bed, fixing a wide smile on her face as if he was her long-lost father.

“Thank you for meeting with me, General.”

“Enough of the niceties. I am just here for the information you say you have for me.”

“It’s more information I have about you, truth be told,” Rey said, stepping a little closer to the bars. “I know you and Kylo Ren hate each other.”

Hux laughed, a thin expulsion of breath. “You brought me here to tell me something everybody already knows?”

Rey took a deep breath. “I have a proposal.”

“You’re wasting my time. I don’t need anything from you unless it’s information I can use.”

“I know you think about him far more than you would like. I know how much he gets under your skin. I can see it.”

Hux pulled a face, his nostrils flaring. “Get to the point.”

“I know a way you can hurt him that he will never forget. Every time he looks at you, he’ll know that you’ve got something he covets, and that he will never have.”

Hux rolled his eyes and sighed. His tone was flat and disinterested. “What?”

Rey swallowed. “Me.”

Hux’s eyes snapped wide. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s down here every day and, believe me, it’s not only because he wants me to tell him where Skywalker is. I know he wants me. So badly that I don’t even need the Force to sense it.”

“What’s your point?”

Rey walked up to the bars and lowered her voice. “You know he has a connection to me. And you know that he can read you, too. Easily, if you let him. Can you imagine how he would react if he saw something… personal.”

Hux frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Like what?”

“Like you and me.” Rey tried a smile again. “I know Ren fantasises about taking me, making me entirely his. He would be inconsolable if he knew that you had tasted what he can only dream of.”

Hux’s pale skin drained even whiter, before a faint pink smudge coloured his neck. “Ridiculous.”

“It would work far better than any physical challenge.”

Hux shook his head. “I can’t believe I bothered with this.”

He pivoted on his heel and stalked away, nose in the air.

Rey sighed. It had been worth a try.

 

* * *

 

Several weeks passed, every day the same. Kylo Ren had taken to sitting on a low stool beside the bars of her cell, just watching her. She could feel the tendrils of the Force worming their way into her mind, and it took all the effort she had – undernourished and exhausted – to close the man out. Always, he was his usual cold, stoic self – until the day he wasn’t.

She sensed a prickling unease before he even came into view, and as soon as he appeared at her door she knew he was disturbed and on edge.

“Something’s happened,” she said, looking at him with an inquisitive expression.

“Not your business,” he snapped, swirling his cloak around him as he sat down with a heavy thump on the little stool. Not another word was spoken for over three hours, as he reached out towards her through the Force connection. Over and over, she slammed down her mental barriers, until she felt almost completely drained.

Eventually Ren, also exhausted, stood to leave.

Rey summoned the last of her energy. Her voice was weak, but loud enough to stop the man in his tracks.

“It’s the General isn’t it?”

He hesitated, looking over his shoulder.

“What?”

“The reason you’re so wound up. It’s because of General Hux.”

Kylo Ren stiffened and regarded her silently, his expression still and blank. When he spoke, his voice was terse and sharp.

“I will not speak to you about matters that do not concern you. I suggest if you wish to talk, that you tell me something I’d want to know.”

“I won’t.”

“Well then. We are done here, for today. I’ll come back until I get what I want.”

Rey smiled weakly. “You won’t.”

 

* * *

 

The ship was moving into its night cycle when a group of stormtroopers arrived at the cell, the leader rapping against the bars and pulling Rey from her doze.

“Scavenger. You’re to come with us.”

Rey rubbed her eyes. “What?”

“Present your wrists to be cuffed.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Present your wrists to be cuffed.”

Rey held her arms in front of her as the stormtrooper who had spoken reached through the bars of the cell door to secure her wrists. This would be the first time she had been permitted to leave the bare, dark room since she had first arrived on the Finalizer. She followed the troopers along the plain, grey corridors of the ship, and tried asking again.

“Where am I going?”

“You’ll see, scavenger.”

She summoned her most imperious voice. “Release these cuffs and walk away.”

The leading stormtrooper laughed. “That will not work with us. Special training, after the last time.”

She tried again, in the elevator, but they were shielding from her. With a sigh, she relaxed her shoulders and tried not to think about what awaited her at her destination.

Rey raised an eyebrow as she was led through what looked like a canteen, stormtroopers milling about busily, some of them with helmets removed and drinking caf. Up a flight of stairs, along a narrow landing, and finally they all stood before a metal door. The stormtrooper who had done all the talking so far pressed a small green buzzer beside it.

“The girl is here, General.”

Rey didn’t hear his reply, but the door slid open and the trooper beside her shoved her roughly towards it. She stumbled forward, and another stormtrooper grabbed her by the arm and propelled her over the threshold.

“Do you want her cuffs removed, Sir?”

Rey regained her balance and gazed around the room she found herself in. It was large, and well appointed, and was clearly living quarters. A solid looking dark grey desk dominated the front part of the room, papers laid out on it in neat piles. An armchair, a low wooden table, a small cupboard and a king size bed were the only other items of furniture that she could see.

General Hux was standing beside the bed, in full uniform, upright and stern as ever.

“Yes. Then leave.”

“Yes, Sir.”

A click and a snap, and the cuffs slid away. The stormtrooper bowed to Hux, and backed out of the room. The door slid shut with a sigh.

Hux raised his chin. “Before you get any ideas, girl, only I can open the door, so you won’t be escaping. Don’t try to use other means to persuade me either. I’m used to Ren, and it won’t work.”

Rey stood silently, waiting for an explanation.

Hux stepped towards her. “I have had time to consider your suggestion.”

Rey smiled. “I knew something had happened between you two today.”

He shot her a cold glare. “It is no surprise to you that I dislike the man. That is the only reason I am acquiescing.”

“And it’s no surprise to you that I feel the same way. That’s the only reason I suggested it.”

“Well then. We are in agreement. Let us get this over with.”

Rey let out a low laugh. “That will never do, General. It needs to look better than barely tolerable, or he will surely know that it was for his benefit. It has to look real.”

Hux pulled an exasperated face. “So be it.”

“I’ll need your given name – no, really, if we are intimate I’d know it, wouldn’t I? And, just so you know, I’m going to lay it on thick. Make Ren believe that you’re the best lover I’ve ever had, and that I’m crazy about you. So try to stick with the programme, okay?”

“My name.”

Hux had flushed quite pink, though Rey was sure that telling her his name was not the reason for that.

“I’m not going to call you General when you’re inside me, much as I’m sure you’d like me to.”

Hux swallowed and his eyes slipped away from her. “Armitage.”

“There. That wasn’t so hard.”

Hux made a low rumbling noise in his throat. “Come here, then.”

Rey grinned and began to walk slowly towards him, putting a seductive swing in her walk. If she was going to act this out, she’d best get into the part. Maybe she would even enjoy it. After all, Hux wasn’t a bad looking man. Sure, he was pale and thin, and there was a cold hardness in his eyes that she would never be able to get used to, and of course there was the minor issue of committing genocide on a massive scale… but even so, she could think of worse situations to be in. The thought of Kylo Ren’s reaction spurred her on.

“Armitage,” she said, her voice soft. She watched him barely suppress a wince.

She lifted a hand slowly, as she would if she was dealing with a frightened animal, and ran one finger lightly down his cheekbone.

“You’re very handsome, Armitage. I bet you hear that all the time.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Rey chuckled. “Remember what I said?” _Stick with the programme_.

Hux exhaled a loud breath and shook his head. Rey stepped forward so she was well and truly in the man’s personal space. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Kiss me.”

He blinked and hesitated, taking a gulp of air before shifting forward and pressing his lips against hers, a dry imitation of a kiss. Rey put a hand on his waist and drew him into her, meeting his mouth in a softer, wetter connection entirely. Her lips parted and she felt him let out a short puff of air into her mouth as the kiss deepened.

She hadn’t known what to expect from the man who commanded the First Order. She had wondered if he would be dominant, or cold, or passionate. She hadn’t expected him to be reserved, even nervous. She found that she was the one in control, guiding him with gentle murmurs of encouragement. Hux twitched under her hands as she swiped her tongue lightly across his full lower lip, seeking entrance into his mouth. He sighed as they sank deeper into the kiss, tongues dancing, breath mingling. He tasted of peppermint, and a faint tang of strong dark caf.

Breaking the kiss after some minutes, she stepped back until she felt the backs of her knees make contact with the edge of the bed. Hux was looking flushed and distracted, his eyes slightly unfocused. She sank down on to the edge of the mattress – soft, springy, only the best for the General it seemed – and reached out for his hand, pulling him towards her. He began to fold down on the bed beside her, but she shook her head.

“No. Stay there.”

Hux frowned at her, but remained standing. Rey ran her hands, palms flat, down the front of his immaculately starched tunic. Her fingers quested beneath the hem, seeking out the button of Hux’s trousers. She heard him catch his breath as she slid the button open and tugged on the zipper, shoving the trousers down slightly together with his underwear. Regulation black boxers, plain and snug fitting. Of course.

He was already half-hard, his breath coming rough and shaky as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the soft, almost translucent skin at the base of his stomach. She kissed a line downwards, following the trail of russet hair into his groin, finally meeting his twitching cock with the heat of her mouth. Hux groaned and tugged lightly at her hair, her tongue pressing against the velvet skin as she drew him in, sliding down his length. She felt him swell against her lips.

“ _Rey_.”

His voice sounded different, lower, and it was the first time he had ever used her name.

She hummed lightly and continued her ministrations, raising her hands to run her fingers along the inside of his trembling thighs, stroking lightly, then dragging her fingernails against the soft flesh. Pale red lines streaked his skin, and he began to whimper.

“I…” he said, broken and ragged, before his entire body stiffened and Rey felt his cock pulse, once, twice, and then he was coming, making small “oh” noises as she held him in her mouth and stroked the curve of his back through the heavy cotton of his tunic.

After a few beats, she pulled away, wiping her lips. Hux stood as if to attention, shoulders back, spine unbending. His eyes were closed and his nostrils flared, and she saw a tic flicker in the muscles of his cheek.

“Hey,” she said, her voice gentle. “Come sit.”

“You don’t…” Hux began, his voice stern, then caught himself. He nodded, and sank down beside her.

“You need to relax more,” she told him with a light laugh.

Hux’s mouth crimped into a tight line. “I have no time for luxuries.”

“Hmm.” Rey bumped up next to him and leaned over to plant a light kiss on his cheek. Her fingers worked at the buckle on his tunic. “Let’s get this off you.”

First Order uniforms were tricky things, it turned out. Fitted, with plenty of buttons and buckles. Even so, within a minute she had the man sitting on the bed wearing only his briefs. Hux had taken each item of clothing from her as she had slid it from his body, and had folded it into a neat pile beside the bed.

“Okay,” she said, climbing onto the bed and kneeling behind him. “Close your eyes.”

“More orders,” he said with a bitter tone, but she noted he had a crooked half-smile on his face as he obeyed her.

She ran her hands along the slope of his shoulders, the skin warm and pale, dotted with light tan freckles. Her thumbs dug into muscles long-knotted and tight, the tension in them almost visible.

“I bet you get some monstrous headaches,” she said, rubbing deep circles with the pads of her fingers.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Of course.”

Despite his stubborn rebuttal of her concern, she watched as she massaged his back, saw how his shoulders loosened and his back curved as he sagged into a more comfortable position.

Some minutes later, when his breathing was deep and steady, she leaned forward and peppered a line of soft kisses down the column of his neck, under his earlobe, across the top of his shoulder. Hux let out a low hum and turned to face her, drawing her in to meet his lips.

He fumbled with her arm wraps as they kissed, unravelling them in hurried tugs, discarding them on the floor in a straggly heap completely unlike his own clothing. Layers of fabric peeled away, her tunic pulled over her head, until she sat smiling at him wearing only a breastband and a pair of admittedly not very sexy beige cotton underpants.

“Let me take my time over this part,” Hux murmured. _Let Kylo suffer through a slow reliving of this particular memory_ was what went unsaid.

His fingers were smooth as they traced lines across the swell of her breasts, the fingers of a tactician rather than a warrior. Back and forth he drew them, a light stroking against the soft pillow of her skin. He curved the palm of his hand around one breast, mapping out the shape, before pulling the fabric of her breastband away from her skin and discarding it with her other clothes.

Inhaling sharply, he circled one of her nipples with his thumb before pinching it lightly. Rey let out a gasp and arched her back, pushing closer to him. Hux lowered his mouth to her breast, her nipple grazing against his tongue. He kissed and stroked her until she needed more, wriggling and sighing.

“Please, Armitage,” she said eventually, and he peered up at her with a smirk on his face and hooked his fingers into her underpants, dragging them down her legs so that she was bare before him. Then he seemed to stop for a while, as if he was studying her. Committing the sight of her to memory. Rey flushed at the thought of what Kylo Ren would see. For a moment she regretted baring so much of herself to him, even vicariously, but then she remembered how painful it would be for him to know that it was his rival who was truly seeing her, who was running his hands up her thighs and… _oh_.

It had been a while since a man had touched her in this way. A familiar ache built quickly, low in her abdomen, as Hux stroked his fingers lightly over her sex, exploring and discovering her. He was far more gentle than she had expected, a tentative parting of her labia, pushing one finger into her with a murmured, “is this okay?”

“Yes,” she replied, her voice husky. “Yes, keep going, keep going please.”

She guided him with the sounds of her voice, whimpers and moans when he got it just right, words of praise which she lavished on him freely, knowing that the impact of them was intended for another man. When he moved closer and she felt the flat of his tongue slide along her folds, she let out a string of words which, in the moment, she could almost have been sincere about.

“Oh yes, just like that, oh you’re the best, you’re incredible, what you do to me…”

Hux wasn’t an accomplished lover, and he lapped at her as if he wasn’t really sure what he was doing, but it felt so nice just to have an intimate human touch again. It was surprisingly easy to forget exactly who he was, and instead to just watch the shock of red hair between her tan thighs, surrendering to the feeling of connection that everybody needs from time to time, even her.

When his tongue slid against her clit, she moaned and tightened her thighs around him, holding him against her. “Yes, there… there… ah, you’re amazing.”

For all his initial clumsiness, Hux was diligent, and he listened to her reactions. Honestly, Rey had thought that this whole thing would be something of a trial, to be endured for the greater purpose of pissing Kylo Ren off. She had not expected to feel the tell-tale tightening of her abdomen, the aching fullness of impending orgasm. The press of his tongue and the heat of his breath was just what her body needed, it seemed. She closed her eyes and rolled her head back against the pillow, her hands tugging at his bedsheets as she began to breathe deeply, her thighs trembling.

Then her climax was tearing through her, her body wracked with pleasure as she sobbed his name, telling him how good she felt, how he was the best lover any girl could wish for. Her words were incoherent and rambling, but all the more honest for it. As she began to come down from her peak, her body lying loose and heavy across the rumpled bedding, she thought to herself that there was no way anyone could witness this moment and believe it to be anything but true intimacy and joy.

Hux pulled himself up to lie beside her on the bed, propping himself up on one elbow. His face was flushed, and his hair – normally carefully tended and slicked into place – was rumpled and untidy.

When he spoke, his voice didn’t sound like his own. It held no trace of the stoic General, the hard edge of command.

“You liked that?”

Rey gazed up at him, smiling.

“You know I did. And I can’t wait to have you inside me.”

She could see from the straining of his briefs that he was ready. She stretched out a hand and ran a finger along the length of him through the cotton. Hux shuddered.

Rey leaned forward, cupping his cheek in her palm as she kissed him softly, passionately, staring deeply into his eyes as she pulled back. His pupils were dilated and he seemed to have trouble catching his breath.

“I need you, Armitage. Will you make love to me, please.”

“Yes. Rey, _yes_.”

He tugged at his briefs, all but flinging them across the room as he covered her body with his, the heat of him fiery against her skin. The kiss he gave her as their bodies pressed together, her breasts soft against his chest, was ravenous and completely different to the reserved, reluctant contact of his earlier efforts. He was aflame, consumed with desire, and for a moment Rey lost her breath at the sudden earnestness of his need.

She was brought back to herself by the sensation of him pressing into her, the gasps he released into her ear as he held her close, the way he trembled against her as he slid into her wet heat. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she murmured into the air, “Oh, you’re so good, I love the way you feel inside me.”

Hux’s face was buried in her shoulder, but she heard his words clearly, the most he had spoken since their lips had first met, and the least controlled. “You’re beautiful, Rey, so beautiful, I can’t… you feel so good, I…”

It struck her, then, that this wasn’t acting for him, either. She barely had to reach out to sense the unloved child that Hux normally kept far below the surface, the child who became a man who had never known a gentle touch or a word of affection. A rush of empathy shook her, the understanding of how overwhelming this must be for him. She petted his hair as he moved inside her, his thrusts slow, his breathing laboured.

“Hey,” she whispered, and he raised his face to hers, his eyes glassy. “It’s okay.”

He kissed her then, as he shifted his hips, kissed her in a different way entirely. Not his former reserved reluctance, nor the fiery desperation of new-discovered passion. This was a kiss of yearning, of wishing that such kisses would never end. Rey could feel the emotions pouring out of him, as if a huge steel door had been opened. She felt dizzy under the onslaught.

“Oh please,” he murmured, incoherent, as he picked up the pace. Rey tightened around him, pulling a moan from his lips, her name chasing it like a prayer. She found his new rhythm, drawing him deep, her hips rising to meet his thrusts as he sank into her, over and over. Blood rushed through Rey’s veins, every sensation amplified, the prickling of sweat on her upper lip, the way her hair caught beneath her shoulder and tugged at her scalp with each movement of her body, the feel of the soft, pliant skin on Hux’s back as she dug her blunt nails into him and wept.

Her orgasm felt like a clandestine gift, something she did not deserve. It rushed through her body, less intense than the first, but no less pleasurable. She felt her muscles clench and flutter, pulling long, loaded groans from Hux’s throat as he reached his own peak, collapsing forwards and burying his face in her shoulder once more.

As she lay there, her fingers feathering through his hair, as fine as copper silk, Rey’s stomach felt empty, as if it had been hollowed out by the way General Hux had moved in her. The way he had given her more of himself in the last hour than she suspected anyone else had ever known, and almost entirely by accident. She didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Hux let out a loud exhalation of breath and rolled away from her, sitting up on the edge of the bed and reaching for his clothes. He wouldn’t meet her eye.

“That should do it, I think.”

He was working hard to return his voice to its usual stern tone, but Rey couldn’t miss the unsteadiness still wavering beneath the surface. Still, while they were pretending, she could pretend she hadn’t heard it.

“I agree.”

“Good.” Hux rose to his feet, straightening his hair with the flat of one hand. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

Rey nodded and began to dress. Hux picked up a small comms unit on his desk and spoke into it in low tones before pulling on his clothes, somewhat less neatly than before. A few minutes later, there was a buzz at the door.

Hux opened the door and gestured Rey towards the stormtroopers waiting outside. “You may go.”

The cold hardness was back in his voice, but as Rey glanced up at him as she stepped out of his quarters, she could see that it hadn’t yet reached his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, finally I got around to writing a bit more for this one... Sorry it's taken so long, I have a very busy job! There will be a fair bit more story to this one, so hopefully this chapter will start to take us there :o)

Rey unfurled from her small cot the next morning, the ache in her thighs reminding her what had happened the evening before. She sighed and stretched, the memory of fingers against her skin fresh in her mind, the sound of the General’s broken voice echoing in her ears. She’d encouraged him to act, encouraged this cold man to pretend to feel a heat and passion that seemed alien to everything she knew of him.

She wasn’t sure he had been pretending, after all.

Still, she shook her head to clear it of such thoughts, and waited for the arrival of Kylo Ren. As ever, he appeared about an hour after the day cycle had begun, silent and surly. She watched as he took a seat and fixed his eyes on her.

Rey raised her chin and stared back, unflinching as she felt the strands of the Force begin to pry at the edges of her mind. Carefully, she peeled back the corners and showed Ren the memory she had prepared for him.

The austere living quarters. The soft bed. Her tan thighs spread loose on the covers. The vibrant red hair moving between them.

The effect was immediate.

“You lie.” Ren was on his feet, his eyes wide, mouth twisting into a tight grimace. “You would not… he would not…”

“Oh, but he did.” Rey smiled and summoned up a different memory, the moment she felt Hux press into her. The heat of his breath against her cheek, the low sighing noise he made as he sank to the hilt within her.

“No.” Ren’s shoulders were tense, his hands curled into fists. His voice cracked, then rose to a near-shout. “No.”

“He is everything you could never be, Ben.”

“Shut up! He is nothing… nobody… compared to me. He is not special, like us. He is…”

Ren broke off, rubbing one gloved hand across his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, under control.

“You will not speak with him again, you hear me?”

Rey laughed. “I don’t take orders from you. Neither does he.”

“This is my ship, and you will do as I say.”

She shook her head. “We both know that’s not true.”

“It won’t happen. It cannot happen.”

Rey took a step closer to the bars of her cell, her head tilting to one side as she regarded the furious man in front of her.

“But it already has. And you know what? It was incredible. I loved everything about the way he touched me. He made me feel beautiful, Ben. He made me feel loved and wanted, for the first time in my life. He made me think that perhaps, after all, there’s more for me here than there ever was in the Resistance.”

Ren made a low noise in his throat, which reminded Rey of a growling wolf. “There has always been more here for you than anywhere else. Need I remind you of the reason you came?”

“We have a connection, I know.” Rey sighed and gave Ren a soft smile. “But that doesn’t mean we belong to each other. I don’t understand how it works, and neither do you, but a Force connection isn’t the same as a commitment. I know what you hoped for, but it won’t ever happen, Ben. What I have with Armitage is different.”

“Armitage.” Ren sneered as he spat out the name. “You disgust me. You’re nothing but a common whore.”

“You know me well enough to know that’s not true.”

“Tell me this, then,” Ren spat, his eyes flashing. “If he made you feel so loved, why are you still sitting here in this cell?”

Rey shrugged. “You know as well as I do that he is not a man who trusts easily. I have to prove my worth. I plan to do just that.”

“Why?” Ren looked away, swiped his hand across his eyes again, grimaced. “Why him?”

His voice rose into a childlike whine to punctuate the question. Rey winced.

“What you mean to ask is, why not me.” Rey sighed and shook her head. “I don’t love you, Ben. I never will.”

“And him?”

Rey recalled another memory of Hux, the look in his eyes as she watched him come, the way he seemed as if he had been taken apart and put back together in entirely the wrong order. The confusion, the intense, delicious joy of sensation, giving way to the fearfulness of taking pleasure, the need to button himself back into the suit he wore around himself. All of this had flashed through him – and, by proxy, her- in a matter of seconds.

No, she didn’t love him. How could she? But she wondered if he could love her.

“He is more than you know,” she said, eventually, not meeting Ren’s eye. “He is more than any of us know.”

“But you want to.”

“Yes.”

Rey gazed at her feet, fixing her eyes on a spot of fluff which floated across the bare grey floor. After what felt like hours, she heard Ren get up and leave without speaking another word.

The pain in his eyes had been everything she had expected. She knew that he would not be able to shake the images she had projected at him, would have to lie alone in his quarters being haunted by the knowledge of what she had done. Worse, what she had said. She allowed herself a smile, even as she thought about what she needed to do next.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo Ren didn’t come to her cell for the next three days. Aside from the droid who brought her food, she had no visitors. That changed on the third day.

“Scavenger.”

Rey had been meditating, sitting cross-legged on her cot staring at the wall. She recognised the man’s accent immediately, didn’t turn.

“Hux. What do you want?”

“General Hux to you. I want answers.”

“You’ll need to ask the questions first.”

Rey unfurled her legs and got up slowly, meeting the general’s eyes. He looked tired and pale, but as upright and pin-neat as ever.

“What did you tell Ren?” His voice was sharp and staccato.

Rey shrugged. “The plan worked. Ren knows what we did. It’s probably still eating him alive even now.”

“I know. He came to ask me if it was true. He knew within seconds that it was. It was… very satisfying.”

“So what else do you need to know?”

“You told him… you said that you would stay with the First Order. Because of me.”

For a moment – not even a full second – Rey caught the flash of hope that Hux quickly squashed, that little flicker of emotion behind the glassy eyes which he pretended did not exist. She knew, then, the real reason he was here.

“And if I did?”

“Was that another lie? Another way to hurt him? Or is your allegiance to the Resistance really that weak?”

Rey swallowed and made a silent prayer to her friends in the Resistance to forgive her. In this predicament, she had to do whatever was necessary.

“Really, General, what future does the Resistance hold for me? I barely know them. I was just looking for somewhere to belong. I’ve come to think that maybe I was searching in the wrong place all along. None of them… are like you. None have your leadership skill, your strength, your command. None of them make me feel the way you did.”

Hux visibly flinched at her last line, but set his jaw and inhaled a deep, steadying breath. “So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I choose to stay here, with you. I choose to pledge my allegiance to the First Order.”

“And what makes you think the First Order will accept you?”

“I’m strong in the Force, you know I am. That’s one of the reasons Ren brought me here. He thought I could make a strong ally. I’m offering exactly that to you now. All I ask is that I am not treated like a prisoner.”

“You’re expecting me to trust you? Just like that, on your word?”

“On my word, and on my actions.”

Hux stood rigid, his nostrils flaring. He blinked slowly, several times. “That has yet to be proven.”

Rey stood as close as she could get to him, so close that she could feel his hitching breath against her cheek as she leaned against the cell bars. “Let me prove it to you.”

Hux stared at her, his gaze intense and unwavering. Rey noted the tic in his cheek, the heavy movement of his throat as he swallowed. He nodded once, brief and sharp, then turned to the stormtroopers who stood behind him, waiting for their orders.

“Take her to my quarters. Lock the door behind her.”

Hux brushed an imaginary piece of lint from his uniform lapel before raising his eyes to Rey once more. “You will wait there for me. We will talk later. Do not even try to leave.”

Rey nodded. “I won’t.”

“Good.” Hux brushed at his uniform again, before straightening his jacket and raising his chin. “Now, I have work to do.”

The troopers bowed as he strode away, hands behind his back, chin raised high. It would have been impossible, Rey thought, for the troopers to have seen anything other than the usual imperious General, giving orders. She knew better. She had sensed the buzzing nerves just beneath the cold surface. Tonight would be an interesting conversation – of that, she was absolutely sure.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad everyone enjoyed my update! Here's another...again, a little short, but heading in the general direction of where it needs to go. I will try and get more written up this weekend :o)

It was strange, being somewhere so different to her bare cell. Being in someone else’s living space, especially a person who was clearly intensely private. She felt like an intruder, but that did not stop her poking around.

The paperwork on his desk was all locked away, of course, the computer well protected. The tall, narrow wardrobe beside his bed held identical uniforms, pressed and ordered, like a line of headless officers. In the chest of drawers, she found plain grey pyjamas, carefully ironed and folded into a neat square, and a drawer full of black underwear, all standard issue. In the bathroom, a razor – clean and sharp – and a row of unscented toiletries. A large grey towel, scratchy and rough.

There were no personal effects, nothing that would give her any clue about who Hux really was.

After a while, Rey decided that she was getting nothing from her snooping. She sank down with a sigh on his soft mattress, stroking her hands over the fresh, clean sheets, the opposite of the hard, unforgiving cot she had slept on for weeks. Her eyelids sagged and she lay back against the spongy pillow. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.

 

It was well into the night cycle when she awoke to the sound of the door swishing open, the light from the corridor outside streaming in to frame the figure of General Hux leaning against the jamb. Rey sat up quickly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Making yourself at home, I see.”

General Hux strode into the room, the door closing behind him as he flicked on the lights in the room. Rey focused on his features, neutral and still. He did not look angry, at least.

“I was tired. I had little else to do.”

Hux raised an eyebrow. “I rather thought you’d be used to that by now.”

“Hardly.”

Hux sighed and undid the top button of his tunic. He sat in the low chair in front of his desk, one hand idly rubbing his neck.

“Are you going to explain what all this is about, then? Why the sudden change of heart?”

Rey took a deep breath, her thoughts jumbled. She knew what she wanted to say…but how to convince him, she had no clue. Her mouth opened, and the words spilled out before she could regulate them.

“I barely remember my parents. They left me alone on Jakku with nothing. I’ve spent my whole life scratching in the dust for stuff to sell, just to put a bit of food in my belly. It’s always been just me, looking out for myself. You get used to being alone, you know?”

She looked up at Hux, offered him a weak smile. His face remained impassive, but for a small frown line which had appeared between his brows.

“I’ve always felt like I don’t belong. Always felt like I was searching for something, but I never quite knew what it was. My parents – sure, I want to know why. Why they abandoned me like that. But they’re gone, and I need to move on. I need to find my place in the world. At first, I thought the Resistance could be it… I was vulnerable, I was easily impressed by people who seemed so… together. Yet even with them, I was an outsider. I had weird habits, I was coarse and abrupt and I never fit in. That’s why I was drawn here by Kylo, hoping he would have the answers. But I’m not like him, either. I’m strong in the Force, but we aren’t the same. Then I met you.”

Rey ran a hand over her eyes and drew in a harsh breath through her nose. Hux remained silent, still, watching her as an eagle would watch a mouse.

“You know what it’s like, don’t you. You know what it’s like to be surrounded by people and be alone. You know what it’s like to build your own armour, to pour everything into yourself, because you have nothing else.”

Hux pulled a face, his mouth drawing into a sneer. “I have the First Order. I always have.”

Rey nodded. “And you try and shape it into something that makes you feel good. Something that validates you. Makes you feel worth something. But nobody in the First Order would care a jot if you’d died in Starkiller Base, and you know it. There would always be another general.”

“They respect me. And for good reason.”

“They respect what you stand for, because that’s what they’ve been trained to do.”

“You have no idea.”

“You’re right. I’ve never been military. I can’t possibly understand what that’s like. But I am a survivor… and, I think, so are you.”

Hux shook his head. “You know nothing about me.”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

Hux stood abruptly and paced towards her before stopping around a metre away. His back was rigid, his hands curled into fists by his side. She could see them tremble as he dug his nails into his palms. His eyes were fixed on the wall above her head.

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here. Why you’re saying you want to stay.”

“Didn’t you feel it?” Rey softened her voice, modulating it so that it stroked over Hux like a soft blanket. “Before? Or was that just me.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“I know our arrangement was just to get to Ren. That was the plan. And it worked as expected. What I didn’t expect was for it to feel more real than anything else in my miserable life. And I think it was the same for you. Wasn’t it?”

Hux’s brows drew together. “My life is not miserable.”

But his tone was less strident, his voice less powerful than before. Rey reached out and touched his hand.

“You felt something, though. Tell me you didn’t.”

“I should put you back in your cell. This was a mistake.”

“I’ll go. If you want me to.”

She watched his face, watched as he clenched his jaw and swallowed hard, his throat working. She knew that he wanted to say no, stay. But he straightened his shoulders, blinked three times, and called for the stormtroopers on his comms unit. Rey left without a backward glance.

Enough, for now, she thought as she curled up on the little wooden cot in her cell. It seemed cold and solid compared to the General’s bed. There would be another chance soon, she was sure of it.

* * *

 

It took only two days before she was summoned once again to Hux’s quarters. The late shift had started a good while before the stormtroopers came for her. Hux was waiting for her in his room, dressed in only his uniform trousers and undershirt, his hair damp and mussed. Rey schooled her face into a mild expression, hiding her surprise at his appearance.

“General.”

Hux acknowledged her with a brusque nod. “What are your terms?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Should you stay here and pledge to the First Order. What do you expect in return?”

Rey paused, thinking through what she should say. Hux stood patiently, his expression unchanging, as he waited for her answer.

Rey took a deep breath. “I would not be subservient to you, or to Kylo Ren. I would be treated as an equal. I would want my own quarters, not a cell to be locked away in.”

Hux pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “You would not take orders from me, nor from Ren. Snoke would be a different matter entirely. I’ve no doubt he will call for you before long. As for your quarters… I cannot agree to that. I cannot trust that you wouldn’t be off in a TIE fighter the minute we took our eyes off you.”

“My word is not good enough for you?”

Hux chuckled. “Would you take my word as my bond?”

Rey sighed. “So you plan to keep me in the cell, then.”

“There is… ah… one alternative.” Hux rubbed his forehead and glanced away from her. “You could stay here, where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Your own personal prisoner? How delightful.”

“Not a prisoner. Someone I don’t yet trust. There’s a difference.”

_Yet_. Rey noted the word.

“And where will I sleep?” Rey looked around the room pointedly.

A faint pink blush stained Hux’s cheeks. “I will have a mattress made up for you on the floor. There is space.”

Rey smirked. “What do you think Ren would have to say about this arrangement?”

To her surprise, Hux’s lips lifted briefly in a lopsided smile. “I had considered that aspect. Perhaps he doesn’t have to know about the mattress.”

Rey smiled back at Hux, meeting his eyes. She felt her stomach clench, but pushed forward with the words. “Perhaps there doesn’t have to be a mattress.”

Hux blinked and cleared his throat. “Ah… I suspect I am not the easiest person to share quarters with. It’s best, I think, if we have separate arrangements.”

“If you think so.”

Rey made a mental note to slow down, and not to push. If she was to get out of here, get back to the Resistance, it would involve a slightly longer game plan. She had expected it, in truth – she knew Hux was not a person who would easily trust her, but she also knew that there were cracks in his armour that she could pry at, if she was gentle enough.

“Then that’s settled.” Hux lifted his comms unit to send for the extra supplies Rey would need. He paused, glanced up at her through the loose hank of hair which hung over his forehead. “I hope you don’t snore.”


End file.
